“French Reverence” - Gargoyle Brass & Organ Concert

The Chicago Gargoyle Brass and Organ Ensemble celebrates French music of the late-19th and early 20th centuries at St. John Cantius Church, featuring the church's highly regarded resident organists on an historic instrument ideally suited to the repertoire.

The Gargoyles' "French Reverence" concert program includes two of its own commissioned arrangements, Alexandre Guilmant's Symphony No. 1, Op. 42; and Maurce Ravel's "Pavane for a Dead Princess," both arranged for brass and organ by Craig Garner. Also on offer are Marcel Dupré's "Poème héroïque" for brass, organ, and field drum; and Dupré's "Symphony-Passion" for solo organ.

Organists Corrado Cavalli and Jonathan Rudy will perform on the church's Casavant Frères Organ Opus 1130, nicknamed "Tina Mae." The Romantic-style four-manual organ comprises 3,800 wood and metal pipes, the largest 16-feet tall, the smallest a few inches high. The unaltered 85-year-old instrument, relocated from an abandoned Chicago church where it had fallen into disuse, was restored and installed at St. John Cantius in 2013.

Cavalli, a native of Turin, Italy, joined St. John Cantius as organist in 2015. He received master's degrees in organ, choral conducting and choral composition from National Conservatory "Giuseppe Verdi" in Turin. Prior to taking the post at the Chicago church, he served as a church organist, music theory professor, and member of the Commission for Sacred Music for the Archdiocese in Turin. His awards include the 12th National Organ Competition's Pinchi Prize and the Brownson Fellowship for his doctoral studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has recorded for Sony Classical, among other labels.

Rudy, Director of Musical Arts and Administration at St. John Cantius, has performed across the U.S., including an appearance at the 2016 American Guild of Organists National Convention in Houston, Tex. He has recorded for the Pro Organo and Sony Classical labels. Among his other credits, Rudy won First Prize and Audience Prize at the National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance. He holds degrees from Indiana and Valparaiso Universities and is currently pursuing a doctorate in organ and sacred music at Indiana.

St. Cecilia Choir & Orchestra at 12:30 pm Mass

St. Cecilia Choir and Orchestra

Details:

Jun. 24, 12:30 pm
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Feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist

Missa Brevis in F, K. 192, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Scande coeli limina, KV 34, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Alma Dei Creatoris, KV 277, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Inter natos mulierum, K 72, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

“Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” (1920)

Accompanied on our Wurlitzer Theater Pipe Organ by Jay Warren

Details:

Jun. 17, 3:00 pm
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John Barrymore stars in the renowned silent adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic.

John Barrymore stars in the renowned silent adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic about a Victorian scientist who turns himself into a murderous abomination.

Color black and white
Director John S.Robertson
Identifier DrJekyllandMrHyde
Run time 82 minutes
Sound silent with music score
Year 1920

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a 1920 horror silent film, produced by Famous Players-Lasky and released through Paramount/Artcraft. The film is based upon Robert Louis Stevenson's novella The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and starring actor John Barrymore.

The film was directed by John S. Robertson and co-starred Nita Naldi. The scenario was by Clara Beranger. This story of split personality has Dr. Jekyll a kind and charitable man who believes that everyone has two sides, one good and one evil. Using a potion, his personalities are split, creating havoc.

Plot

Henry Jekyll (John Barrymore) is a doctor of medicine, an idealist, and philanthropist. When he is not treating the poor in his free clinic, he is in his laboratory experimenting. Sir George Carew (Brandon Hurst), the father of his fiancée, Millicent (Martha Mansfield), is "piqued" by Dr. Jekyll. "No man could be as good as he looks," Carew says. Following dinner one night, Carew taunts Dr. Jekyll in front of their friends, Edward Enfield (Cecil Clovelly), Dr. Lanyon (Charles Lane) and Utterson (J. Malcolm Dunn) proclaiming "In devoting yourself to others, Jekyll, aren't you neglecting the development of your own life?" "Isn't it by serving others that one develops oneself?" Jekyll replies. "Which self?" Carew retorts. "Man has two - as he has two hands. Because I use my right hand, should I never use my left? Your really strong man fears nothing. It is the weak one who is afraid of experience. A man cannot destroy the savage in him by denying its impulses. The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. With your youth, you should live - as I have lived. I have memories. What will you have at my age?"

And thus the seed is sown, and Jekyll begins his experiments. As he observes, "Wouldn't it be marvellous if the two natures in man could be separated - housed in different bodies? Think what it would mean to yield to every evil impulse, yet leave the soul untouched!" Finally, Jekyll develops a potion that turns him into a hideously evil creature that he calls Edward Hyde. As this creature, he is not recognizable as Dr. Jekyll, and, so, to facilitate the comings and goings of Hyde, he tells his servant, Poole (George Stevens), that Hyde is to have "full authority and liberty about the house."

Jekyll thus begins to live his double life. Hyde sets up a room in one of the seediest parts of London. He brings in a girl from the dance hall, Gina (Nita Naldi), to live with him there and frequents opium dens, dance halls, and bars - any place that satisfies his evil desires. Although Jekyll has developed a potion that will also return him to his original appearance and character as Dr. Jekyll, each time he takes the potion to become Edward Hyde, he worsens. He not only looks more evil, he becomes more evil, as well.

Millicent Carew is worried about the absence of her fiancé, so Sir George goes to call on Jekyll to see what is the matter. Although Jekyll is not home when he calls, Sir George encounters Hyde in the street just as he knocks a small boy to the ground injuring him. To make recompense for his actions, he goes and gets a check which he returns to the boy's father. Carew notices that the check has been signed by Dr. Jekyll. He confronts Poole who tells him the story of Edward Hyde.

In the meantime, Hyde/Jekyll has returned to the lab and, after drinking the potion, returns to his original self. Sir George finds him in the lab and demands to know his relationship with "a vile thing like Hyde?"
"What right have you to question me - you who first tempted me?" says Jekyll. Sir George angrily retorts that unless Jekyll is forthcoming with an explanation, he must object to his marriage to Millicent. This angers Jekyll to the point that he suddenly becomes Hyde, right in front of Sir George's eyes, without benefit of the potion. Sir George runs into the courtyard where Hyde catches him and clubs him to death with his walking stick. Hyde runs to his apartment and destroys any evidence that may link him to Jekyll. He eludes the police by only minutes and returns to his lab where he is able to drink the potion that restores him as Jekyll.

In the ensuing days, as Millicent grieves, Jekyll is tortured by his misdeeds. Soon, the drug needed to make the potion that will return him as Dr. Jekyll is depleted and cannot be found in all of London. Jekyll stays locked up in his lab fearing he may become Hyde at any moment. Millicent finally goes to see him, but just as she is about to enter the lab, he begins to transform into Hyde. Jekyll consumes the poison in the ring he took from the Italian dancer before he opens the door, fully transformed into Hyde. He lets her in, locks the door and grabs her in his arms. Suddenly, he starts convulsing. Millicent runs from the lab and when Lanyon comes in, he finds Hyde sitting in a chair, having just died, and his appearance returned to that of Dr. Jekyll. He discerns that Jekyll committed suicide, and calls the others (Poole, Utterson and Millicent) in, but declares to them that Hyde has killed Dr. Jekyll. In the final shot, Millicent is grieving next to the body of Dr. Jekyll.

Production

The early part of Jekyll's initial transformation into Hyde was achieved with no makeup, instead relying solely on Barrymore's ability to contort his face. In one scene, as Hyde reverts to Jekyll, one of Hyde's prosthetic fingers can be seen to fly across the screen, having been shaken loose by Barrymore's convulsions. The character of Millicent Carew does not appear in Stevenson's original story, but in the 1887 stage version by Thomas Russell Sullivan starring Richard Mansfield. This 1920 film version used the play's concept of Jekyll being engaged to Carew's daughter, and Hyde beginning a dalliance with a dance-hall girl.

Jay Warren - Photoplay Organist

Jay Warren - Chicago's foremost photoplay organist - brings all the color, excitement, and glamour of the silent film era back to life with his original scores for the silver screen. As a regularly featured photoplay organist for the Silent Film Society of Chicago, he has accompanied most of the great silent films throughout his forty year career in his famous rousing style. He has been featured annually for the society's highly regarded Silent Summer Film Festival since its inception in 2000. For twelve consecutive years he held forth playing the huge E.M. Skinner pipe organ for silent films at the University of Chicago's famed Rockefeller Memorial Chapel. He also performs film accompaniment on the beautiful Letourneau pipe organ in the Crimi Auditorium of Aurora University. Jay has also made several silent film photoplay appearances on the incredible 5 manual Wurlitzer located at the Sanfilippo Foundation's Place de la Musique in Barrington, Illinois.

In the Church Hall of St. John Cantius is found a Wurlitzer Theater Pipe Organ. It was built in 1927 and is listed as Opus 1818. This organ was originally installed in the Terrace Theatre at 361 West 23rd Street in 1927, and, in 1935, it was moved to the WOR Radio Studio, 1440 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10018. After restoration, this instrument was installed on the stage of the Church Hall at St. John Cantius in 2012.

WOR began broadcasting from the 6th floor of Bamberger’s Department Store at 131 Market Street in Newark, N.J. WOR was the only station to broadcast on Christmas Day 1922, and thus was the first sound heard by those who found a crystal set under the tree that year. In December 1924, WOR added a studio in Manhattan, on the 9th floor of Chickering Hall at 27 West 57th Street. Later that year, the station moved its New York studio to 1440 Broadway, two blocks from Times Square. In the autumn of 1934, WOR formed the Mutual Broadcasting System. Additional studios were built at the New Amsterdam Theatre and the converted Guild and Longacre Theatres in the Times Square district. Alot of best-known dramatic programs originated from WOR’s studios, including “The Shadow”, “Nick Carter, Private Detective” and “True Detective Mysteries.”

Today, this organ is used to accompany silent films in the Church Hall of St. John Cantius. We are grateful to Jay Warren of the Silent Film Society of Chicago for his collaboration in assisting us with our ongoing silent film series. The organ is also used for the annual St. Nick Sing-a-long to accompany the singing of popular Christmas carols, and for other parish social events throughout the year.

St. Cecilia Choir sings 12:30 pm Mass

The St. Cecilia Choir and the Magnificat Choir will be conducted by Nicholas White.

Review

“Unashamedly beautiful, Nicholas White’s choral music makes you think about the function of music and how a composer decides on the rightness of its design. White’s music never cloys. It is beautifully crafted, the manner of word-setting stemming very much from the English choral tradition… music that soothes more often than it challenges, while still stimulating the imagination as it nourishes the spirit.”

International Record Review ~ June 2007

About Nicholas White

Nicholas White is a Grammy nominated composer and conductor, as well as a versatile organist, pianist and singer with experience in many different styles of music. In 2011, Nicholas was appointed to the post of Director of Chapel Music & Organist at St. Paul’s School, Concord, New Hampshire. In 2012 he became Chair of the Arts at the school. In 2013 he was appointed Music Director of The Boston Cecilia, one of America’s oldest and finest performing arts organizations. Learn more at: https://www.birettabooks.com/nicholas-white

"The Boy" (Lloyd) is an idle playboy and heir to $20,000,000, relaxing at an exclusive resort. When he sees "The Girl" (Mildred Davis), surrounded by a flock of admirers, he suddenly asks her to marry him. Taken aback, she sends him to get the approval of her father, a tough, hardworking steel magnate.

The girl's father knows and disapproves of the Boy's indolence, and demands that he first get a job to prove that he can do something. The Boy sees a recruiting poster and applies to join the United States Navy. When the magnate decides to take a long cruise on his yacht, he tells his daughter to bring along her friends. She invites the Boy, but he finds he cannot get out of his three-year enlistment.

Aboard ship, he makes an enemy of intimidating sailor "Rough-House" O'Rafferty (Noah Young), but when O'Rafferty throws a box at the Boy and strikes a passing officer, the Boy steps up and accepts the blame. He and O'Rafferty then become good friends.

The Girl and her friends stop off at the port of Agar Shahar Khairpura, the "City of a Thousand Rascals", in the country of Khairpura-Bhandanna, to sightsee, just as the Boy and O'Rafferty get shore leave there. The Girl is delighted to see the Boy and rushes into his arms. However, she has also attracted the attention of the Maharajah of Khairpura-Bhandanna (Dick Sutherland).

The potentate has her kidnapped and taken to his palace. The Boy rushes to her rescue and single-handedly manages to outwit the Maharajah and his guards and escape with the Girl.

Later, the Boy uses signal flags from his ship to ask with the Girl on her father's yacht, "Will you?" With her father's approval, she sends a signal back, "I will".

Considered to be Lloyd's first feature-length film, the extended running time of A Sailor-Made Man came about purely by accident. During production, with an excessive number of gags written into the story, it became apparent that the film would be longer than the traditional 2-reel short.

Producer Hal Roach decided they should just go ahead and shoot everything they had come up with, and worry about cutting down the length later. Often dependent on the preview process, Lloyd decided to preview the film at its 40-plus minute length to see which parts didn't work.

However, the audiences enjoyed the extended cut so much, Lloyd decided not to change a thing and kept it as a 4-reel comedy.

Recpetion

Considered to be Lloyd's first feature-length film, the extended running time of A Sailor-Made Man came about purely by accident. During production, with an excessive number of gags written into the story, it became apparent that the film would be longer than the traditional 2-reel short. Producer Hal Roach decided they should just go ahead and shoot everything they had come up with, and worry about cutting down the length later. Often dependent on the preview process, Lloyd decided to preview the film at its 40-plus minute length to see which parts didn't work. However, the audiences enjoyed the extended cut so much, Lloyd decided not to change a thing and kept it as a 4-reel comedy.

Jay Warren - Photoplay Organist

Jay Warren - Chicago's foremost photoplay organist - brings all the color, excitement, and glamour of the silent film era back to life with his original scores for the silver screen. As a regularly featured photoplay organist for the Silent Film Society of Chicago, he has accompanied most of the great silent films throughout his forty year career in his famous rousing style. He has been featured annually for the society's highly regarded Silent Summer Film Festival since its inception in 2000. For twelve consecutive years he held forth playing the huge E.M. Skinner pipe organ for silent films at the University of Chicago's famed Rockefeller Memorial Chapel. He also performs film accompaniment on the beautiful Letourneau pipe organ in the Crimi Auditorium of Aurora University. Jay has also made several silent film photoplay appearances on the incredible 5 manual Wurlitzer located at the Sanfilippo Foundation's Place de la Musique in Barrington, Illinois.

Active as a conductor, pianist, and vocal coach, Michael McElvain has been heard on Chicago’s WFMT radio broadcasts, including a live, month-long cycle of the complete piano sonatas of Beethoven, the WFMT Membership Drive, and the contemporary music program Relevant Tones, leading VOX 3 in the concert premiere of Patricia Morehead’s new opera, Black Hawk Speaks. As a soloist and collaborative artist, Mr. McElvain has appeared in masterclasses led by Leon Fleisher, Emanuel Ax, David Daniels, and preeminent vocal coach, Martin Katz. Beyond classical music, he has toured Europe as keyboardist for the progressive rock group, Pavlov’s Dog.

Mr. McElvain has been a featured conductor and concerto soloist with the Webster Symphony Orchestra, served as Chorus Master for The Chicago Bach Ensemble, Music Director for CUBE Ensemble’s first-ever opera production, conducted musical theatre works by Stephen Sondheim, and recently led The Metropolitan Orchestra of St. Louis in the final concert of their 2013-14 season. He presently serves on the accompanying staffs of Columbia College and DePaul University, Chicago.

Richard Webster -- composer, church musician, conductor and organist -- is Director of Music and Organist at Trinity Church, Copley Square, Boston. As a composer and arranger he completes several commissioned works a year. His hymn arrangements for brass, percussion, organ and congregation are heard across the world, including the CBC's Christmas and Easter broadcasts, BBC's "Songs of Praise,” at a hymn festival in Sweden’s Lund Cathedral, in an Australian celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation and on a recording of hymns from Taiwan.

At Trinity, Boston, where he cofounded the Trinity Choristers, he has led the choirs on 3 tours of England, with residencies at Westminster Abbey, Ely, Lincoln, Chichester, Winchester and St. Paul’s Cathedrals. Richard is Music Director of Chicago's Bach Week Festival, featuring some of the nation's most acclaimed musicians. Sought after as a choral clinician, he has led choir courses and workshops across the U.S., South Africa and New Zealand. He is an honorary Fellow of the Royal School of Church Music (FRSCM), and in 2016 was awarded the Doctor of Music degree, honoris causa, from the University of the South at Sewanee.

Richard has performed and recorded as organist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in works from the Saint-Saens Organ Symphony to Ives’ Fourth Symphony. He is the Organist and Choirmaster Emeritus of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Evanston, Illinois, where, from 1974 to 2003 he directed the Choir of Men and Boys, the Girls Choir, Schola and the St. Luke’s Singers in a program widely respected and emulated. The restoration of the celebrated 1922 Ernest M. Skinner organ, Opus 327 at St. Luke’s was accomplished under his leadership.

A native of Nashville, Mr. Webster studied organ with the late Peter Fyfe, Karel Paukert and Wolfgang Rübsam. He was a Fulbright Scholar to Great Britain, as Organ Scholar at Chichester Cathedral under the late John Birch.

Webster's works are published by Augsburg Fortress, Church Music Society, Church Publishing, Selah and Advent Press. His articles on church music have appeared in The American Organist, The Diapason, Chicago Tribune, The Living Church, Journal of the Association of Anglican Musicians, the Choral Journal of the ACDA and the Windy City Times. He was a contributing author to Leading the Church’s Song, published by Augsburg.

Corrado Cavalli, a native of Turin, Italy, is the organist of St. John Cantius Church in Chicago since June, 2015. He studied at the National Conservatory “Giuseppe Verdi” in Turin where he was awarded two Master’s Degrees, one in organ (summa cum laude), and another in Choral Conducting and Choral Composition (summa). He attended master-classes held by the notable professors at the “Haarlem International Academy for organists” in the Netherlands. Among his several honors and prizes he won the 12th National Organ Competition “Città di Viterbo” (Pinchi Prize) and he has been recently awarded the Brownson Fellowship for his Doctoral Studies at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. As organ soloist he has performed in many international festivals, cathedrals and concert halls in Italy, Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, Norway, U.K, Poland, Principauté de Monaco, Slovakia and in the U.S.A. He has also played with such orchestras as the Italian National Symphonic Orchestra of Rai, the French “Ensemble Orchestral des Alpes et de la Mer,” and the Orchestra Filarmonica di Torino. He has recorded for Biretta Books, De Montfort, AimHigher, Sony Classical, Elegia Records, and ElleDiCi music labels, and he has published for Biretta Books in Chicago and for the Italian edition, “Armeiln musica.” As a musicologist and a professor of music, he has given master-classes and lectures on Italian organ music literature, with a focus on the repertoire of the Romantic and Contemporary periods, with a particular emphasis on the music of Torino. He is a member of the American Guild of Organists.

Divine Mercy Novena

The Novena begins on Good Friday each year and continues to Divine Mercy Sunday (Sunday after Easter).

Blessing of Easter Baskets (Poswiecenie Pokarmow)

Details:

Mar. 31, 1:00 pm

Each Easter families bring baskets of traditional foods to be blessed.

Between 1-3 pm on Sat., Mar. 31, everyone is invited to come to the parish. A priest will be available at the back of the church to bless your Easter baskets of food.

The Blessing of the Food is a festive occasion. The three-part blessing prayers specifically address the various contents of the basket, with special prayers for the meats, eggs, cakes & breads. The priest then sprinkles the individual baskets with Holy Water. More traditional Polish churches uses a straw brush for dispersing the Water; others use the more modern metal Holy Water sprinkling wand. In some parishes, the baskets are lined up on long tables; in others, parishioners process to the front of the altar carrying their baskets, as if in a Communion line. Older generations of Polish Americans, descended from early 19th century immigrants, tend to bless whole meal quantities, often brought to church halls in large baskets.

Confessions (1-3 pm)

Details:

Mar. 31, 1:00 pm

Confessions are heard in the church between 1-3 pm today.

Tenebrae

Details:

Mar. 31, 8:30 am

Today and during the Sacred Triduum, the Matins and Lauds of the Divine Office are often sung in a haunting service known as the Tenebrae service ("tenebrae" meaning "shadows"), which is basically a funeral service for Our Lord. During the Matins on Good Friday, one by one, the candles are extinguished in the Church, leaving the congregation in total darkness, and in a silence that is punctuated by the strepitus (a loud clatter intended to evoke the earthquake that was said to happen at the moment of death) meant to evoke the convulsion of nature at the death of Christ. It has also been described as the sound of the tomb door closing.

As the Traditional Tenebrae services are intimidating for smaller parishes (approximately 2 hours of singing), Monsignor Martin B. Hellriegel, created a modified Tenebrae Service for parishes. He maintains the entire structure of the service, but shortens the readings and psalms. In his Tenebrae services (approximately 45 minutes long), the Psalms are chanted in English according to simple Gregorian melodies and tones, yet some of the Latin and simple Greek Chants are provided (i.e. Christus Factus Est). See sample pages below. Monsignor Martin B. Hellriegel (1890-1981) an Apostolic Protonotary, was one of the giants of the 20th century Liturgical Movement that Pope Pius X inspired. A native of Heppenheim, Germany, his most productive years were spent in America, where he was chaplain to the Most Precious Blood Sisters in O’Fallon, Missouri, then pastor of Holy Cross parish in St. Louis. Monsignor Hellrigel was influential in promoting liturgical reforms that Pope Pius XII had urged in Mediator Dei, his 1947 encyclical on the liturgy—in particular the restoration of the Easter Vigil and the participation of the congregation in the chants of the Mass.During the Triduum, the Matins and Lauds readings come from the following day's readings each night because the hours of Matins and Lauds were pushed back so that the public might better participate during these special three days (i.e., the Matins and Lauds readings heard at Spy Wednesday's tenebrae service are those for Maundy Thursday, the readings for Maundy Thursday's tenebrae "Cercis siliquastrum" service are from Good Friday, and Good Friday's readings are from Holy Saturday's Divine Office).

Legend says that the tree upon which Judas hanged himself was the "Cercis siliquastrum" -- a tree that is now known as the "Judas Tree." It is a beautiful tree, native to the Mediterranean region, with brilliant deep pink flowers in the spring -- flowers that are said to have blushed in shame after Judas's suicide.

Divine Mercy Novena

Details:

Mar. 30, 5:00 pm

Join us in the church as we pray the Divine Mercy Novena prayers. After the 3 pm Good Friday Service concludes the Divine Mercy Novena prayers will be said in the church. The 3 pm Good Friday Service typically goes until about 5 pm, so the Divine Mercy Novena begins about 5 pm approximately. All are welcome to participate. See the prayers online at EWTN: https://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/mercy/novena.htm

The Novena begins on Good Friday each year and continues to Divine Mercy Sunday (Sunday after Easter).

Good Friday Service

St. Cecilia Choir & Magnificat Choir

Details:

Mar. 30, 3:00 pm
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Good Friday of Holy Week

3:00pm—Service of the Lord's Passion
—Veneration of the Cross
—Divine Mercy Novena after the service
—Confessions begin at 2 pm

The St. Cecilia Choir sings:

St. John Passion, Orlando di Lasso

Adoratio Crucis (Reproaches), Diogo Dias Melgás

Crux Fidelis, Domenico Bartolucci

Pater Peccavi, Duarte Lobo

Emendemus in melius, Cristobal de Morales

Miserere, William Byrd

Ave Verum, Francis Poulenc

The Magnfiicat Choir sings:

All My Friends Have Forsaken Me, Healey Willan (1880-1968)

The Veil of the Temple Was Rent, Healey Willan (1880-1968)

O My Choicest Vine, Healey Willan (1880-1968)

God so loved the world, Sir John Stainer (1840-1901)

O Vos Omnes, Tomás Luis de Victoria (c. 1548 -1611)

Confessions (2 pm)

Details:

Mar. 30, 2:00 pm

Confessions are heard on Good Friday staring at 2 pm. This continues as the 3 pm Good Friday Service begins. When it is time for the Adoration of the Cross during the Good Friday Service the Priests will leave the confessionals to participate in the Adoration of the Cross and the rest of the Good Friday Service. After the 3 pm Good Friday Service is over, the Priests will return to the confessional to hear any remaining penitents.

Tenebrae

Details:

Mar. 30, 8:30 am

Today and during the Sacred Triduum, the Matins and Lauds of the Divine Office are often sung in a haunting service known as the Tenebrae service ("tenebrae" meaning "shadows"), which is basically a funeral service for Our Lord. During the Matins on Good Friday, one by one, the candles are extinguished in the Church, leaving the congregation in total darkness, and in a silence that is punctuated by the strepitus (a loud clatter intended to evoke the earthquake that was said to happen at the moment of death) meant to evoke the convulsion of nature at the death of Christ. It has also been described as the sound of the tomb door closing.

As the Traditional Tenebrae services are intimidating for smaller parishes (approximately 2 hours of singing), Monsignor Martin B. Hellriegel, created a modified Tenebrae Service for parishes. He maintains the entire structure of the service, but shortens the readings and psalms. In his Tenebrae services (approximately 45 minutes long), the Psalms are chanted in English according to simple Gregorian melodies and tones, yet some of the Latin and simple Greek Chants are provided (i.e. Christus Factus Est). See sample pages below. Monsignor Martin B. Hellriegel (1890-1981) an Apostolic Protonotary, was one of the giants of the 20th century Liturgical Movement that Pope Pius X inspired. A native of Heppenheim, Germany, his most productive years were spent in America, where he was chaplain to the Most Precious Blood Sisters in O’Fallon, Missouri, then pastor of Holy Cross parish in St. Louis. Monsignor Hellrigel was influential in promoting liturgical reforms that Pope Pius XII had urged in Mediator Dei, his 1947 encyclical on the liturgy—in particular the restoration of the Easter Vigil and the participation of the congregation in the chants of the Mass.During the Triduum, the Matins and Lauds readings come from the following day's readings each night because the hours of Matins and Lauds were pushed back so that the public might better participate during these special three days (i.e., the Matins and Lauds readings heard at Spy Wednesday's tenebrae service are those for Maundy Thursday, the readings for Maundy Thursday's tenebrae "Cercis siliquastrum" service are from Good Friday, and Good Friday's readings are from Holy Saturday's Divine Office).

Legend says that the tree upon which Judas hanged himself was the "Cercis siliquastrum" -- a tree that is now known as the "Judas Tree." It is a beautiful tree, native to the Mediterranean region, with brilliant deep pink flowers in the spring -- flowers that are said to have blushed in shame after Judas's suicide.

Holy Thursday - Night of Gifts and a Garden

The Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday evening brings us the supreme gift of the Holy Eucharist, which immerses us in Divine Love and emboldens us to follow carefully and constantly Our Lord’s command: “Love one another as I have loved you.” The external joy of these gifts seems quickly suspended as we follow Our Lord to the Garden of Gethsemane. The church bells that so boisterously pealed early in this Mass are replaced by the dull, wooden sound of “clackers.” We hear Our Lord’s question to us, “Could you not watch with me one hour?” Can we? Will we?

*Confessions are heard following this evening Mass.

Tenebrae

Details:

Mar. 29, 8:30 am

Today and during the Sacred Triduum, the Matins and Lauds of the Divine Office are often sung in a haunting service known as the Tenebrae service ("tenebrae" meaning "shadows"), which is basically a funeral service for Our Lord. During the Matins on Good Friday, one by one, the candles are extinguished in the Church, leaving the congregation in total darkness, and in a silence that is punctuated by the strepitus (a loud clatter intended to evoke the earthquake that was said to happen at the moment of death) meant to evoke the convulsion of nature at the death of Christ. It has also been described as the sound of the tomb door closing.

As the Traditional Tenebrae services are intimidating for smaller parishes (approximately 2 hours of singing), Monsignor Martin B. Hellriegel, created a modified Tenebrae Service for parishes. He maintains the entire structure of the service, but shortens the readings and psalms. In his Tenebrae services (approximately 45 minutes long), the Psalms are chanted in English according to simple Gregorian melodies and tones, yet some of the Latin and simple Greek Chants are provided (i.e. Christus Factus Est). See sample pages below. Monsignor Martin B. Hellriegel (1890-1981) an Apostolic Protonotary, was one of the giants of the 20th century Liturgical Movement that Pope Pius X inspired. A native of Heppenheim, Germany, his most productive years were spent in America, where he was chaplain to the Most Precious Blood Sisters in O’Fallon, Missouri, then pastor of Holy Cross parish in St. Louis. Monsignor Hellrigel was influential in promoting liturgical reforms that Pope Pius XII had urged in Mediator Dei, his 1947 encyclical on the liturgy—in particular the restoration of the Easter Vigil and the participation of the congregation in the chants of the Mass.During the Triduum, the Matins and Lauds readings come from the following day's readings each night because the hours of Matins and Lauds were pushed back so that the public might better participate during these special three days (i.e., the Matins and Lauds readings heard at Spy Wednesday's tenebrae service are those for Maundy Thursday, the readings for Maundy Thursday's tenebrae "Cercis siliquastrum" service are from Good Friday, and Good Friday's readings are from Holy Saturday's Divine Office).

Legend says that the tree upon which Judas hanged himself was the "Cercis siliquastrum" -- a tree that is now known as the "Judas Tree." It is a beautiful tree, native to the Mediterranean region, with brilliant deep pink flowers in the spring -- flowers that are said to have blushed in shame after Judas's suicide.